Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Human |
HumanAdjective1. Characteristic of humanity; "human nature". 2. Relating to a person; "the experiment was conducted on 6 monkeys and 2 human subjects". 3. Having human form or attributes as opposed to those of animals or divine beings; "human beings"; "the human body"; "human kindness"; "human frailty". Noun1. A human being; "there was too much for one person to do". 2. Any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "human" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Note: Human \Hu"man\, noun. A human being. [Colloquial]. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Humans Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Mammalia Order: Primates Family: Hominidae Genus: Homo Species: Sapiens Binomial name Homo sapiens Biologists classify humans as a species (Homo sapiens) of primates and the only surviving species of the genus Homo. The species is commonly referred to as "humankind" or "humanity" and its members as "humans", "human beings" or "people". The species name Homo sapiens is an uncountable noun and has no plural form. Man is a male human being and woman is a female human being. All current humans, from across all areas of the Earth, are of this species.
According to mainstream biology, the closest living evolutionary relatives to humans are the two species of chimpanzee Pan troglodytes ("common chimp") and Pan paniscus ("pygmy chimp" or "Bonobo"), and to a lesser degree other hominoids such as orangutans and gorillas. Biologists have compared a sequence of DNA base pairs between humans and chimpanzees, and estimated an overall genetic difference of 5% [1]. It has been estimated that the human lineage diverged from that of chimpanzees about 5 million years ago, and from gorillas about 8 million years ago. However, recent news reports of a hominid skull approximately 7 million years old already showing a divergence from the ape lineage strongly suggests an earlier divergence. Some scientists argue that bonobos, chimpanzees and, possibly, gorillas should be lumped into the genus Homo, but this is currently a minority opinion.
Various religious groups have raised objections and controversy concerning the theory of humanity's evolution from a common ancestor with the other hominoids. See creationism and argument from evolution for opposing points of view.
Physical characteristics
Image of a Caucasian man and woman, taken from
the Pioneer 11 spacecraft image.
(Public domain image)The body of humans is described in the human anatomy group of articles. Humans have a wide range of variability in physical and other characteristics.
The evolution of Homo sapiens is characterized by a number of important trends:
How these trends are related, in what ways they have been adaptive, and what their role is in the evolution of complex social organization and culture, are matters of ongoing debate among physical anthropologists.
- expansion of the brain cavity and brain itself, which is typically about 1,400 cm3 in volume, well over twice that of a chimpanzee or gorilla. Some physical anthropologists argue that a reorganization of the structure of the brain is more important than cranial expansion itself.
- canine tooth reduction.
- bipedal locomotion
- descent of the larynx (which makes possible the production of the complex sound known as vocal language).
Although body size is highly heritable, it is also significantly influenced by environmental and cultural factors such as diet. The mean height of an American adult female is 162 centimetres and the mean weight is 62 kg. Males are typically heavier - 175 cm and 78 kilogram. Humans vary substantially around these means, and the means themselves have varied depending on locality and historical factors.
Human children, typically weighing 3-4 kilograms and 50-60 centimetres in height, are born after a nine-month gestation period. Helpless at birth, they continue to grow for some years, typically reaching sexual maturity at around 12-15 years of age. Boys continue growing for some time after this, often only reaching their maximum height around the age of 18. The average human lifespan is approaching 80 years in wealthy nations, with the assistance of science and technology.
See also human physical appearance.
Homo sapiens compared to other species
Humans often consider themselves to be the "dominant" species on Earth, and the most advanced in intelligence and ability to manage their environment. This belief is especially strong in Western culture, and is based in part in the Biblical Creation story in which Adam is explicitly given dominion over the Earth and all of its creatures.
Biologists and scientists in general, though, do not consider "dominant" to be a useful term, because the adaptive value of any trait or complex of traits depends on the niche and is highly mutable. From a scientific standpoint, Homo sapiens certainly is among the most generalized species on Earth. Smaller and simpler animals such as bacteria and insects greatly surpass humans in population size and diversity of species, but few single species occupy as many diverse environments as humans. Many other species, for example, are adapted to specific environments, whereas humans rely on tools such as clothing and manufactured shelter, which are themselves often produced and used through complex social interactions.
The use of tools and the ability to alter their environment (building shelter, weaving fabrics for clothing, language, and the development of complex social relationships and structures, etc.) has been cited as a characteristic which distinguishes humans from other animals. This difference, however, is not absolute, as ethologists have recorded such behaviors in many species. Apes and even birds, for example, are known to "fish" for insects using blades of grass or twigs, and even to shape the tools for that purpose. No other animal uses tools to the same degree or with the same flexibility as Homo sapiens. Similarly, other animals often have simple methods of communication, but the degree to which humans create and use complex grammar and abstract concepts in language has not been seen in any other species, despite much effort to find it.
Chomskian linguistics holds that a distinguishing feature of humans is that we are the only extant species with a language instinct - a genetic predisposition that produces a brain mechanism whose function is to acquire a language by observing those around us.
Some anthropologists think that these readily observable characteristics (toolmaking and language) are based on a less easily observable mental process that might be unique among humans: the ability to think symbolically. That is, humans can think abstractly about concepts and ideas. They can question, use logic, understand mathematical concepts, and so on in ways that no other animals are known to do, although several species have demonstrated some ability in this area. Nor have other animals demonstrated any remotely comparable ability to plan their actions. This belief is why the species was named Homo sapiens, sometimes translated as "Man the Thinker". Note, however, that the extinct species of the Homo genus (eg, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo erectus) were also adept tool users and there is some evidence that they may have had linguistic skills. Moreover, there are many other animals alive today which use tools, so the idea that making and using tools is a defining characteristic of humans is often considered outdated.
While humans have all these characteristics, from the biological viewpoint "what distinguishes humans from all other animals?" is an odd question: there's no one thing that makes cats, dolphins, or song sparrows unique. Finding other species that shape tools or can use sign language may shed light on human evolution, but it doesn't erase the differences between humans and related species.
See also: Evolution of Homo sapiens, human condition, man, woman, child, humanoid, human variability
Human activity
- Dreaming
- Reading
- Writing
- Listening
- Knowledge
External link
- A Look at Modern Human Origins
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Human."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The term human resources is variously defined in political economy and economics, where it was traditionally called labor, one of three factors of production. Its use within corporations continues to define common conceptions of the term.Modern analysis emphasizes that human beings are not predictable commodity "resources" with definitions totally controlled by contract, but are creative and social beings that make contributions beyond "labor" to a society and to civilization. The broad term human capital has evolved to contain the complexity of this term, and in macro-economics the term "firm-specific human capital" has evolved to represent the original meaning of the term "human resources".
Advocating the central role of "human resources" or human capital in enterprises and societies has been a traditional role of socialist parties, who claim that value is primarily created by their activity, and accordingly justify a larger claim of profits or relief from these enterprises or societies. Critics say this is just a bargaining tactic which grew out of various practices of medieval European guilds into the modern trade union and collective bargaining unit.
A contrary view, common to capitalist parties, is that it is the infrastructural capital and (what they call) intellectual capital owned and fused by "management" that provides most value in financial capital terms. This likewise justifies a bargaining position and a general view that "human resources" are interchangeable.
A significant sign of consensus on this latter point is the ISO 9000 series of standards which requires a "job description" of every participant in a productive enterprise. In general, heavily unionized nations such as France and Germany have adopted and encouraged such descriptions especially within trade unions. One view of this trend is that a strong social consensus on political economy and a good social welfare system facilitates labor mobility and tends to make the entire economy more productive, as labor can move from one enterprise to another with little controversy or difficult in adapting.
An important controversy regarding labor mobility illustrates the broader philosophical issue with usage of the phrase "human resources": governments of developing nations often regard developed nations that encourage immigration or "guest workers" as appropriating human capital that is rightfully part of the developing nation and required to further its growth as a civilization. They argue that this appropriation is similar to colonial commodity fiat wherein a colonizing European power would define an arbitrary price for natural resources, extracting which diminished national natural capital.
The debate regarding "human resources" versus human capital thus in many ways echoes the debate regarding natural resources versus natural capital. Over time the United Nations have come to more generally support the developing nations' point of view, and have requested significant offsetting "foreign aid" contributions so that a developing nation losing human capital does not lose the capacity to continue to train new people in trades, professions, and the arts.
An extreme version of this view is that historical inequities such as African slavery must be compensated by current developed nations, which benefitted from stolen "human resources" as they were developing. This is an extremely controversial view, but it echoes the general theme of converting human capital to "human resources" and thus greatly diminishing its value to the host society, i.e. "Africa", as it is put to narrow imitative use as "labor" in the using society.
In the very narrow context of corporate "human resources", there is a contrasting pull to reflect and require workplace diversity that echoes the diversity of a global customer base. Foreign language and culture skills, ingenuity, humor, and careful listening, are examples of traits that such programs typically require. It would appear that these evidence a general shift to the human capital point of view, and an acknowledgement that human beings do contribute much more to a productive enterprise than "work": they bring their character, their ethics, their creativity, their social connections, and in some cases even their pets and children, and alter the character of a workplace. The term corporate culture is used to characterize such processes.
The traditional but extremely narrow context of hiring, firing, and job description, is considered a 20th century anachronism. Most corporate organizations that compete in the modern global economy have adopted a view of human capital that mirrors the modern consensus as above. Some of these, in turn, deprecate the term "human resources" as useless.
As the term refers to predictable exploitations of human capital in one context or another, it can still be said to apply to manual labor, mass agriculture, low skill "McJobs" in service industries, military and other work that has clear job descriptions, and which generally do not encourage creative or social contributions.
In general the abstractions of macro-economics treat it this way - as it characterizes no mechanisms to represent choice or ingenuity. So one interpretation is that "firm-specific human capital" as defined in macro-economics is the modern and correct definition of "human resources" - and that this is inadequate to represent the contributions of "human resources" in any modern theory of political economy.
External links:
"Human Resources Benchmarking Association"
Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich
"The Goat in the Rug" - Natural, Human, Capital as resources
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Human resources."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Human rights (natural rights) are rights which some hold to be "inalienable" and belonging to all humans; according to natural law. Such rights are believed, by proponents, to be necessary for freedom and the maintenance of a "reasonable" quality of life.Inalienable rights cannot be bestowed, granted, limited, bartered away, or sold away (eg, one cannot sell oneself into slavery). Inalienable rights can only be secured...or violated.
Human rights can be divided into two categories; positive and negative human rights. Every negative human right can be expressed as a positive human right, but not vice versa. For example, the right of a newborn to a caring parent can only be expressed positively.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
In 1948 the United Nations made the above declaration[1], which was an over-arching set of standards by which Governments, organisations and individuals would measure their behaviour towards each other.
This Declaration introduced the notion in the public realm that rights had a moral dimension, independent of and overriding where relevant the legislature or government which granted specific legal rights. The notion was not new, e. g. Thomas Paine had argued in this way in his book The Rights of Man.
Other general Declarations have followed, notably the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989[1].
Origins of Rights
Positive human rights follow mainly from the Rousseauian Continental legal tradition, and are things to which every person is entitled and for which every state is obligated. Examples of such rights (not all are universally agreed upon) include: the rights to education, to a livelihood, to private property, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, to carry guns, and legal equality. Positive rights have been codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in many 20th century constitutions.
Negative human rights follow mainly from the Anglo-American legal tradition, and are rights which denote actions that a government should not take. These are codified in the United States Bill of Rights and the English Bill of Rights and include freedoms of speech, religion and assembly.
There are a number of theories of where rights come from. The theory espoused by the US Declaration of Independence and ingrained in Anglo-American legal thought is that rights arise from natural law. This theory is considered antiquated in moral philosophy.
There are a number of controversies regarding human rights. One is what rights are included as fundamental human rights, or even if there is such a thing. Another controversy is how best to enforce human rights and in particular the relationship between human rights and national sovereignty. One point of view is that human rights are universal and therefore it is proper for any national to attempt to enforce human rights through international courts or domestic law. The opposing view is that having human rights override national sovereignty is a form of imperialism in which powerful countries dictate which rights they consider most important against less powerful countries.
Modern Liberal Definition of Human Rights
Within the modern American liberal political culture, basic human rights are defined as those which can be upheld in a society which follows two basic rules:
Unfortunately these ideals would seemingly exist only in a utopian society, and thus it is a very difficult plan of action indeed.
- All individuals should be allowed to act in any way they choose providing that in doing so they do not prohibit other individuals from that same privilege.
- All individuals must take responsibility for the repercussions of their actions.
Hate Crimes Laws
With the advent of the concept of human rights, various countries have attempted to enact laws against what are called hate crimes. A hate crime is defined as a crime committed with direct influence by the minority status of the victim. A hate crime law would bring greater penalty to the perpetrator based on the hateful intent.
Conservatives in the United States often oppose hate crime laws, stating that imposing a greater penaty on an act committed in hate would thus make hating illegal. They feel this to be a direct infringement on First Amendment rights.
Liberalss often support hate crime laws, stating that by enacting them individuals would face greater discouragement from committing hate crimes. They also point out that all laws are subjective, and that if society can determine that one crime deserves more punishment than another (ie: murder vs. involuntary manslaughter,) then it can also determine what motivations deserve more stringent punishments.
Links
See also:
- University of Leicester, UK, list of sources and links.
- European Convention on Human Rights
- European Social Charter
- International human rights instruments
- freedom, rights, human rights abuse
- Three generations of human rights
- Pawel Wlodkowic an author of theory that pagans nations have the right to live in peace and posses their land.
Human Rights Organizations
- Amnesty International: http://www.amnesty.org
Freedom House: http://www.freedomhouse.org The Carter Center: http://www.cartercenter.org Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Human rights."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| HUMAN RIGHTS | English | Handle documentation about human rights | N/A |
| HUCAL | English | Human Combinatorial Antibody Library | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: HumanSynonyms: homo (n), human being (n), individual (n), man (n), mortal (n), person (n), somebody (n), someone (n), soul (n). (additional references) |
| Antonym: nonhuman (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Animality | Noun: animal life; animation, animality, animalization; animalness, corporeal nature, human system; breath. |
Bad Man | Villain, rascal, scoundrel, miscreant, budmash, caitiff; wretch, reptile, viper, serpent, basilisk, urchin; tiger, monster; devil; (demon); devil incarnate; demon in human shape, Nana Sahib; hellhound, hellcat; rakehell. |
Benevolence | Good nature, good feeling, good wishes; kindness, kindliness; Adjective: loving-kindness, benignity, brotherly love, charity, humanity, fellow-feeling, sympathy: goodness of heart, warmth of heart; bonhomie; kind-heartedness; amiability, milk of human kindness, tenderness; love; friendship. |
Disease | Herpesvirus; cytomegalovirus, CMV; human immunodefficiency virus, HIVerb: |
Error | Phrase: errare est humanum; mentis gratissimus error; "on the dubious waves of error tost"; "to err is human, to forgive divine"; "you lie |
Evil doer | Monster; fiend; (demon); devil incarnate, demon in human shape; Frankenstein's monster. |
Hun, Attila, scourge of the human race. | |
Government | Office of the president, office of the prime minister, cabinet; senate, house of representatives, parliament; council; courts, supreme court; state, interior, labor, health and human services, defense, education, agriculture, justice, commerce, treasury; Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI; Central Intelligence Agency, CIA; NIH; Postal Service, Post Office; Federal Aviation Administration, FAA. |
Idolatry | Sacrifices, hecatomb, holocaust; human sacrifices, immolation, mactation, infanticide, self-immolation, suttee. |
Mankind | Noun: man, mankind; human race, human species, human kind, human nature; humanity, mortality, flesh, generation. |
Human being; person, personage; individual, creature, fellow creature, mortal, body, somebody; one; such a one, some one; soul, living soul; earthling; party, head, hand; dramatis personae; quidam. | |
Adjective: human, mortal, personal, individual, national, civic, public, social; cosmopolitan; anthropoid. | |
Pain | Hell upon earth; iron age, reign of terror; slough of despond; (adversity); peck of troubles; "ills that flesh is heir to"; (evil); miseries of human life; "unkindest cut of all". |
Prediction | Divination by oracles, Theomancy; by the Bible, Bibliomancy; by ghosts, Psychomancy; by crystal gazing, Crystallomancy; by shadows or manes, Sciomancy; by appearances in the air, Aeromancy, Chaomancy; by the stars at birth, Genethliacs; by meteors, Meteoromancy; by winds, Austromancy; by sacrificial appearances, Aruspicy (or Haruspicy), Hieromancy, Hieroscopy; by the entrails of animals sacrificed, Extispicy, Hieromancy; by the entrails of a human sacrifice, |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure (The Matrix; writing credit: Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski.) What has died is the last breath in me that was human. (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; writing credit: Anne Rice) There were children in those days who lived off human flesh (Doctor Zhivago; writing credit: Boris Pasternak; Robert Bolt) What are we doing here? Who are we? If this is a chance to find out even just a little part of that answer I don't know, I think it's worth a human life (Contact; writing credit: Carl Sagan;) The human spirit, it is a very difficult thing to kill (The Addams Family; writing credit: Caroline Thompson) | |
Lyrics | You're only human, you're gonna have to deal with heartache (You're Only Human (Second Wind); performing artist: Billy Joel) Just a little of that Human Touch (HUMAN TOUCH; performing artist: Bruce Springsteen) Why, why, tell 'em that is human nature (Human Nature; performing artist: Michael Jackson; writing credit: Steve Porcaro & John Bettis) Got no human grace your eyes without a face (EYES WITHOUT A FACE; performing artist: Billy Idol) Between human beings and animals that you should know about (The Bad Touch; performing artist: Bloodhound Gang) | |
Clever | Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. (references; author: Mark Twain) 2 days without a Human Rights Violation! (references; author: unknown) To err is human, to blame it on someone else is more human. (references; author: unknown) The sum of human knowledge is not contained in any one language. (references; author: unknown) The zoo is a place for animals to study the behavior of human beings. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Human Goddess (1972) Population Explosion: The Human Bomb (1968) The Human Pretzel (1967) You're Human Like the Rest of Them (1967) Human and Animal Beginnings (1966) | |
Song Titles | Masquerading As Human (performing artist: The Duras Sisters) Human (performing artist: Human League) Human Nature (performing artist: Michael Jackson) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References |
| ||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Anti-cancer drugs can now be tested on human cancer cell lines in vitro for cytotoxicity and effectiveness without the use of animals. In an assay color changes in the wells show what proportion of cultured cancer cells remain alive after they have been exposed to the test drug. The plates are read by computer, and results are automatically sent to a centralized computer where they are converted into graphic reports. Credit: Bill Branson (photographer). |  | DNA taken from the genes of human cells has been cleaved into small fragments by enzymes. The small DNA pieces are isolated by electropheresis onto an agarose gel plate. Scientist use this technique to identify and study genes. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |
 | This is a spiral-shaped bacterium that is frequently carried by deer ticks of the genus Ixodes. When the deer tick bites a human being, the bacteria are transmitted to the human bloodstream. Credit: CDC. |  | Human infection with monkeypox-like virus in 4 year-old female in Bondua, Grand Gedeh County, Liberia. This infection was caused by a pox virus of the vaccinia, variola, monkeypox type. Credit: CDC. |
 | The First Human in Space. Credit: NASA. |  | Hawaiian monk seal - Monachus schauinslandi. Tagging operations conducted under the auspices of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. Techniques were being developed at this time as this was only the second time that any Hawaiian Monk seals were tagged. Other than for needs of scientific studies, human interaction with protected species should be minimized. Credit: NOAA's Ark (Animals). |
 | Traveling by human power - rickshaw ride in the Orient On the way over to the Philippines. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | A mother seal voicing its displeasure at human intrusion. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Juvenile human inspecting juvenile alligator snapping turtles. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Fishing for Antarctic cod. These fish are studied because they do not freeze even though human flesh would freeze in Antarctic sea temperatures. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Human 8" by Dj Narsis Commentary: "Human." | "Human parts - 1" by Ruud De Jong Commentary: "Photo taken with a Canon powershot A70." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Alexander Pope | Hope springs eternal in the human breast. |
Francis Bacon | Knowledge and human power are synonymous. |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | The human voice is the organ of the soul. |
James A. Froude | Human improvement is from within outward. |
Lao-Tzu | Nature is not human hearted. |
Oscar Wilde | A kiss may ruin a human life. |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | How much of human life is lost in waiting. |
Thomas Paine | Human nature is not of itself vicious. |
Viktor E. Frankl | A human being is a deciding being. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | Laws therefore human, of what kind so ever, are available by consent. (Second Treatise of Government) |
US Declaration of Independence | 1776 | When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. (reference) |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | We by no means intend to abolish this personal appropriation of the products of labour, an appropriation that is made for the maintenance and reproduction of human life, and that leaves no surplus wherewith to command the labour of others. (reference) |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | Insurance contracts shall be considered as contracts of life assurance for the purpose of paragraphs 11 to 14 when they depend on the probabilities of human life combined with the rate of interest for the calculation of the reciprocal engagements between the two parties. (reference) |
Winston S. Churchill | 1946 | The fear of them alone might easily have been used to enforce totalitarian systems upon the free democratic world, with consequences appalling to human imagination. ("Iron Curtain" Speech) |
United Nations | 1948 | Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. (reference) |
John F. Kennedy | 1961 | For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. (reference) |
Roe v. Wade | 1973 | Though the State cannot override that right, it has legitimate interests in protecting both the pregnant woman's health and the potentiality of human life, each of which interests grows and reaches a "compelling" point at various stages of the woman's approach to term. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | They are known to no human being, I guess, but herself |
Tangled Tale | Carroll, Lewis | Her mind was a blank, and all human expression was rapidly fading out of her face |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters and had lost the power for ever |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Not seldom, she would laugh anew, and louder than before, like a thing incapable and unintelligent of human sorrow |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Monastic communities are to the great social community what the ivy is to the oak, what the wart is to the human body |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | There was no human figure near him nor any sound borne to him over the air. |
Time Enough for Love | Robert Heinlein | Never underestimate the power of human stupidity |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | She watched him as though he were suddenly a spirit, not human any more, a voice out of the ground |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | And these were all the notions he had concerning that faculty of lying, so perfectly well understood among human creatures |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Nature has no human inhabitant who appreciates her. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Human leukocyte antigens (HLAs). (references) | |
American Journal of Human Genetics. (references) | ||
No human infections were identified. (references) | ||
Business | The relevant federal authority for human pharmaceuticals is the BfArM. (references) | |
Military restructuring and development of human resources are critical. (references) | ||
Of the 46 complaints, the CNDH referred 21 to state human rights authorities. (references) | ||
Children | Bosnia and Herzegovina | The end of the fighting brought a major improvement in the human rights of children. (references) |
Congo | These conditions sometimes make it impossible for parents to meet their children's basic human needs. (references) | |
El Salvador | The PNC incorporated PDDH human rights training into programs for police units that deal with juveniles. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Sri Lanka | The LTTE has killed those reporting and publishing on human rights. (references) |
Nepal | Some journalists and their advocates have suffered human rights abuses. (references) | |
Australia | Other NGO's such as Human Rights Watch have leveled comparable criticism. (references) | |
Discrimination | Argentina | The Association Against Homosexual Discrimination filed a complaint to the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman in Cordoba regarding such treatment. (references) |
Bhutan | Bhutanese human rights groups active outside the country claim that ethnic Nepalese actually make up approximately 35 percent of the country's population and that the Government underreports their number. (references) | |
Economic History | Armenia | Armenia's human capital is one of its best resources. (references) |
Human Rights | Burma | The military abuses human rights workers. (references) |
Haiti | It did not conduct human rights monitoring. (references) | |
Syria | It also prevents the delivery of human rights materials. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Canada | The treatment of aboriginal people continued to be one of the most important human rights problems facing the country. (references) |
Guatemala | Indigenous people were the most common victims of extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights abuses during the internal conflict. (references) | |
Guatemala | More than 80 percent of the victims of killing during the war were Mayan, and 93 percent of the human rights abuses were committed by the military. (references) | |
Minorities | Romania | These cases were pending with the European Court of Human Rights at year's end. (references) |
Russia | Police made few arrests although many such cases were reported by human rights organizations. (references) | |
Croatia | VRUH stated that it seeks to protect the Roma ethnic and cultural heritage and promote Roma human rights. (references) | |
Political Economy | Hungary | Police committed human rights abuses. (references) |
Hong Kong | Hong Kong's human rights record is very good. (references) | |
Uzbekistan | Security forces abused human rights activists. (references) | |
Political Rights | Bahrain | In 1999 a Majlis Human Rights Committee was formed. (references) |
Uzbekistan | Ruzimuradov was a former member of Parliament and a human rights activist. (references) | |
Argentina | For most of the year, there was one female cabinet-level official--the Minister of Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Training. (references) | |
Trade | Azerbaijan | This approach requires support for sustainable economic growth and human development. (references) |
Burma | Documentation on imports must show evidence that the products are fit for human consumption. (references) | |
Egypt | Any product that exceeds its established shelf-life is considered no longer fit for human consumption. (references) | |
Travel | Honduras | Negotiations tend to be slower and more drawn out in Honduras than in the U.S. Hondurans place more emphasis on completing human transactions than on holding to schedules. (references) |
Colombia | Colombia, in terms of natural and human resources, offers a strategic location, a well-developed industrial and infrastructure capacity, and a modern business environment. (references) | |
Women | Yugoslavia | Women are also active in political and human rights organizations. (references) |
Worker Rights | Moldova | Human Trafficking Task Force. (references) |
Brazil | The case is also the subject of an action in the Inter-American Human Rights Court. (references) | |
Romania | The unit had conducted a series of human trafficking arrests by the end of the year. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | WEATHER, n. The climate of the hour. A permanent topic of conversation among persons whom it does not interest, but who have inherited the tendency to chatter about it from naked arboreal ancestors whom it keenly concerned. The setting up official weather bureaus and their maintenance in mendacity prove that even governments are accessible to suasion by the rude forefathers of the jungle. Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see, And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be -- Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth, With a record of unreason seldom paralleled on earth. While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incadescent youth, From the coals that he'd preferred to the advantages of truth. He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote -- For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow: "Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow." Halcyon Jones |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Al Hunt | Senator Hagel, several times you've mentioned that we ought to examine what a post-Saddam Iraq would look like. The vice president said he would envision a post-Saddam Iraq that would be a democracy, that would respect human rights. |
Ann Richards | Yeah, because we're human and we're slow learners. And sometimes it takes longer for people. I've known a lot of people who relapsed and who had to go back into the hospital or who had to go to another center. |
Bob Jones | I certainly can't speak for all of the Southerners or all of the Northerners. This problem is a human nature problem, it's not a regional problem. Racism exists in the North, East, South, West, everywhere. |
Colin Powell | Never, never will. But I'm also pro-human kind, and I'm also pro-Palestinian to the extent that they are human beings, to the extent that they have a desire to see their children grow up in peace. |
Dennis Miller | Now human rights advocates are up in non-arms about our indefinite detention of suspected terrorists. |
King Constantine of Greece | Well, at the moment, I'm in the courts with the Greek government, because they have made every effort to take away my home, and I've been fighting that in the European court of human rights. |
Nancy Grace | You say look at this good looking guy, committed murder. Nobody wants to believe that. That's the fascination with the court system. You go into the mind and the heart of a human. |
Robert Novak | Governor Thompson was also, I thought, clear on being against human cloning. The president did make a big pitch for the bill to abolish human cloning about a week ago, two weeks ago, but he hasn't said anything much since. |
Rush Limbaugh | Our system works better than anything that's been tried in all of human history. |
Sarah Ferguson | If they're regular human beings, they're going to talk about regular human being things. And I would say the news is a regular thing to discuss. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | Many of their advocates, while they wish to vindicate the liberty of human nature are anxious also to preserve its dignity and beauty. |
Herbert C. Hoover | 1929-1933 | Such purposes are repugnant to our ideals of human freedom. |
Harry S. Truman | 1945-1953 | Better human relationships are an urgent need to which organized labor and management should address themselves. |
Dwight Eisenhower | 1953-1961 | Science seems ready to confer upon us, as its final gift, the power to erase human life from this planet. |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Abortion is either the taking of a human life or it isn't. |
George Bush | 1989-1993 | Sullivan, Lou Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to lead a Domestic Policy Council review of recommendations on the quality, accessibility and cost of our nation's health care system. |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | Scientists now are decoding the blueprint of human life. |
George W. Bush | 2001-2005 | Our commitment to human dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and raging disease. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Human" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 95.89% of the time. "Human" is used about 13,532 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 95.89% | 12,975 | 710 |
| Noun (singular) | 4.06% | 549 | 11,324 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.05% | 7 | 133,076 |
| Total | 100.00% | 13,532 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "human" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Human | Last name | 1,000 | 17,725 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "human". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Adami | N/A | Biblical | Human |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| Hungary | Human Oltoanyagtermelo es Gyogyszergyarto Rt | USA | Human Genome Sciences Inc |
